Beautiful
by Ruse
Summary: Alice watches Jasper hunt. Oneshot of fluffiness.


Beautiful

Author: Ruse

Summary: Alice watches Jasper hunt. Oneshot. Fluff.

Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer, and unfortunately so does Jasper and all the hot Cullen boys. More's the pity!

xXx

A shard of emerald trickles down like rain from the lush canopy above, the sound of its soft descent against the bark of the maple from which it fell the only betrayal that life stirred within these woods. Where the leaf makes its grave a shadow covers the ground, blocking the rays of the sun. Crouched low in the brush is a predator who cannot hear as much as sense his prey coming. His body doesn't move, he neither breathes nor blinks, a perfect statue in the middle of nowhere, much too beautiful to be hidden and yet much too deadly to be free in this state.

A scent brushes past him, trailing on a breeze that sifts through his golden hair. His blackening topaz eyes dilate, his muscles tense beneath his pale granite flesh. He is a trap coiled and waiting, immovable, senses attuned and ready, at one with the wild thrum of nature's beating heart. He can hear footfalls now, hear the steady song of a heartbeat and the pull of a red river within veins and arteries writhing within flesh. Anticipation is the only emotion that plays across his face. Almost ready, almost…

But she is a huntress as well, also attuned with nature. She senses something wrong in the woods she calls her home and begins to run. If he had adrenaline it would pulse through him. As it is, a smile crosses his lips as he takes off after her.

The hunt begins.

Vastly superior in speed he starts to gain. He senses her become one with the forest, alien and instinctive emotions as sharp as the blade of a razor, distant but distinct to one such as he. By scent and sound he tracks her through the trees, his focus on she alone. And when he hunts he is beautiful. No prey could ever hope to withstand his might, and some would fall at the command of his lips and eyes alone. His pale flesh is a stark contrast to the woods, rivaled only by the sun that filters through the leaves.

He passes through the blessed light and he is illuminated, beautiful in the face of that from which he hides. Anywhere else shadows must be his sanctuary, but here he is free, here the darkness holds no sway. And then light disappears and he is in the soft grasp of a sunless touch, no less breathtaking for leaving the garish light. His prey runs on, oblivious to the allure of the creature at her back. He smiles, enjoying the game. It wouldn't be the first time he had done this the hard way.

Water breaks his path but he is swift, leaping with a grace like one born to flight. He tucks and rolls beneath a great tree half fallen, held up only by the branches of its neighbors. A flutter of leaves hits the air as he lands, sailing beneath the trunk and on into the wild after his prey without missing a step.

The sounds of his coming do not draw her attention from her path, she runs on with near perfect speed and aim, but there will be no escape. He is far too good a predator for that. He ducks branches, sidesteps trees and leaps over rocks without slowing, frightening in his tireless pursuit. His eyes shine as he catches sight of her—she is a gray blur of motion with the scent of heaven in her lungs and the darkness of fate in her swirl of wide, green-brown eyes. She pants, exhausted, and he moves ever closer even as he watches her. One mistake and he will have her…

The mistake is made and her fate is sealed. Tired bones betray her and her foot gives way on a fallen branch, sending her tumbling through the brush. The flight of the angel of darkness at her back stops and he approaches, awareness keenly fixed and eyes surprisingly gentle. Laying in grass and leaves she pants, sparing him a glance and then looking away as if she understands what must happen now.

He comes to her side and kneels, running his hand along her fur as no mortal man can do. "You gave a good fight," he says, voice respectful and even kind. Her ire is no risk as he takes her paw, searching for broken bones.

For a long moment he stares, admiring the strength and beauty of her nature even has he is admired by eyes of another, one who had watched his hunt from the beginning. The great bobcat before him rumbles in her chest at his hesitation in distrust. His hesitation has an entirely different effect on the eyes of his watcher. She smiles, having loved him a thousand times over with her eyes and now loving him for his heart.

Unaware that he is being watched, he gives the bobcat another stroke, then straightens. "Maybe some other time, miss," he says with a quirk of his lips, then flies off after another scent and another noise in the woods, leaving his prey the gift of life…

xXx

…Alice, her eyes closed and a smile written across her pretty face, lay stretched out on the bed in her room with a book in her arms. The vision of the great hunt faded, bringing her back into the warmth of home. Jasper was quiet, a mystery to most, but to her he was everything. In public he could never be so free, so unchained. It would be a danger to humans and to the family if he left himself careless so near civilization. And so she loved to watch him when he was alone, when he thought no eyes upon him. The motion of his body breathed life into her, the intensity of his eyes as he stalked his prey even as he often stalked her in the night. His hunt was sensual, unguarded and beautiful to behold.

And then he would surprise her. When she thought he could not draw her into his trance any further he dared take her deeper. This was the part of him the others rarely got to glimpse, her part that she held ensnared in her hands and would never let go.

A look of gentleness warmed her golden eyes. Alice bit her bottom lip as she quietly drew her cell phone off the table, opened it and dialed. His voice was amused when he picked up, saying, "We just got to the site."

"I know," she replied, tiptoeing her fingers over her knee as she drew them up to her chest and leaned back. "I just wanted to say hurry home."

Jasper laughed softly at her. "Well, I'd be happy to accommodate you. We might have a little trouble dragging Emmett back before he's finished, though." There was a loud warning of, _'This is a guys' weekend!'_ in the background. "He's a little hungry."

Rolling her eyes, Alice nodded her head instinctively. "Just tell him not to eat everything in the forest, okay?"

"I'll relay that for you," he promised, sighing as he fended off a slap to the head from his larger, eager brother, who was rushing him along with talk of offering the girls doggie bags if he'd just hang up and come on. "You see how it is, though."

Alice laughed at his long-suffering tone. "I see how it is." She held her breath a moment, held the smile in her sparkling eyes. "I love you."

The humor returned to his voice, but there was a softness there that held her bound to the phone, not wanting to hang up. "I love you too, but I think you want something. Play your cards right, you might just get it."

Visions of a promise under moonlight filled her and she was suddenly very eager for his return. "I already have it," she assured him with that same softness. "Bye."

"I'll be home soon," he told her, and in her mind's eye she could see him standing beside the car, out in the middle of nowhere, his brothers and father disappearing into the woods. A half-smile crossed his lips as he breathed, "Bye."

xXx

A/N: To Karri, who has prodded my muse alive for a brief moment. ;-)


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